The Dark Cloud of Gaming

Recent reports have shown that over recent years, one of the main trends we're seeing in the streaming music economy is that songs have been getting shorter. People are writing songs differently. In the past, you would be paid if you sold an album, but with the streaming economy, more songs can be streamed at a time, so albums are being packed with shorter songs. Why? Because now payment occurs for every song listened to, rather than for an entire album. What incentive is there for a songwriter to write longer songs, if it means less frequent payments? As a result, the average song length has dipped by 30 seconds. Translate that to the game industry, and we will be seeing shorter games and lower quality overall. Developers and publishers have much less incentive to put effort into their products because they'll be paid if their game is played even a little. Investing years of effort and money into massive games with impressive quality may soon be a thing of the past, because for much less time and money, a shorter, simpler game can feed this generation of attention-deficient gamers that quickly lose interest and move on to the next shiny new product. Ask yourself, when was the last time you actually finished a 60-hour game from a major game publisher? Quick fixes from mobile app-type games may become the future landscape of gaming in the cloud.

The Impact of Cloud Gaming

The music industry casts a foreboding cloud upon the future of gaming. Yes, we will be freed from expensive console devices, will no longer need to make room on our shelves for physical copies of games, and we will be able to jump online and play something new as soon as it releases without waiting on it to download. However, all of this comes with a price, and honestly, it's not a price I'm looking forward to paying. Think about a few things you've already experienced: no longer can you really “own” software like Photoshop or Adobe—most companies require you to pay a monthly subscription fee to use their product. Cloud gaming services are designed to siphon a monthly fee from you, and if you lapse in payments, you no longer have access to any of the content. Of course, we're already accustomed to this with Netflix, Spotify, and other online entertainment services, so no problem, right? But take a closer look at services like this and see what is going on being the scenes, regarding the content quality and the incentives to developers and publishers. We should all be prepared for a dip in quality...

Cloud Gaming

You may worry about the Sony/Microsoft deal to compete in the cloud gaming space and suspect we will soon be seeing an X-Station or a Playbox console merger, but it is doubtful the console market will continue much longer. With more and more people getting high speed internet connections, cloud gaming will eventually usurp the rule of gaming consoles, eventually rendering them extinct. Although things are nowhere near established enough to negatively affect the next cycle of consoles (Playstation 5 and Xbox2???...how confusing!) it is looking like the game industry is moving to the cloud. Google's approach to sell a proprietary game controller is what we will likely be seeing from companies like Sony and Microsoft after the next console generation. But what does cloud gaming mean for the rest of us? If the music industry is any indication of the future of gaming, then there are some positives and negatives we should be prepared for...

Google Enters the Game Industry

The idea of streaming games is nothing new—both Sony and Microsoft have been doing it for years already, with Sony's Playstation Now service and Microsoft's Project xCloud. Google plans to launch its own cloud gaming service called Stadia, streaming video games in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with support for high-dynamic-range. This will be available globally through Google's data centers using the Google Chrome web browser. The service will be integrated with YouTube, allowing all viewers of Stadia to launch a game on the service at the same save-state as the streamer. Although the service is compatible with HID class USB controllers, Google has designed a proprietary controller with direct Wi-fi linkage to data centers that will be available with Stadia's launch in late 2019. Sony's Playstation Now cloud gaming service has not been very successful, with only 700,000 paying subscribers and frequent complaints about choppy connectivity. It has been said that if you aren't spending billions of dollars on data centers every year, you can't keep up with the growing cloud environment. Sony's home-grown service is not robust enough to compete, so combining forces with Microsoft might be the key to competing with Google's infrastructure.

Sony allies with...Microsoft?!

A lot of people in the gaming industry were shocked last week, when it was revealed that Sony has made a deal to partner with Microsoft! Even employees in Sony's Playstation division were surprised at the news, unaware of the deal that had been made. Why would these two rivals partner over anything? Microsoft has been Sony's main competitor for over almost two decades with the Xbox gaming console, and even though Sony has gained the upperhand with its Playstation 4, Microsoft is still a worthy arch-nemesis. Remember the hard-fought battle for Sony's Blu-ray format over Microsoft's HD-DVD? When have these two companies ever gotten along together? However, as soon as I heard news of this partnership, I had a very strong suspicion as to why--I remembered the disturbing whispers that have been going around recently about Google's plans to enter the gaming industry. What is Google planning that has enemies like Sony and Microsoft so scared that they're willing to form an alliance?

Screenshots, Kickstarter, and Subscription

On the www.StarLegation.com website, you'll see at the top and again at the very bottom a button to subscribe. This only collects your email address and name, and sends it to the mailchimp program I'm using to better manage group emails. If you're interested in updates and insider details on the development process with images and info not shared on social media, please subscribe—I'll send out an update about once a month. On the webpage itself, I plan to include a few more screenshots from the game once the programming process is fully underway. Right now, I've been running many test programs to experiment with animation, settle on my UI, sizing, and even to make a small beta test of one scene that a few people have played. At the very bottom of the webpage, you'll notice a colorful planet horizon with the Kickstarter logo. I will post the exact start date and time of the Kickstarter campaign for the Star Legation visual novel, once I have it. However, subscribers will be the very first to know, so they can seize any of the limited backer awards that will be available at the start of the campaign before anyone else fills those spots. So please, consider subscribing!

Character Gallery and Game Features

As you can see on the Star Legation webpage, there are 9 character portraits displayed, which you can click to magnify so their data profiles can be read. The art for some characters is not yet complete, so this will be updated, but some will not be in updated in order to avoid game spoilers. Information about character personalities is included in the profiles, in addition to details about a character's race, age, occupation, and a personal quote. A friend of mine thought the information for the Omul was an error, but if you play the game, you'll understand. There are many insights into each race and culture in the visual novel story, and the Solar Echoes universe will be explored in more depth. Even seasoned fans of the Solar Echoes RPG will learn new things, but they will also find some hidden “Easter Egg” references in the story and in the artwork itself! There are a number of other exciting details included in the Game Features section. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!

https://www.starlegation.com/#characters

Diplomacy in Star Legation?

Yes, the Star Legation is intended to be a purely peaceful, diplomatic mission, and in some cases it will be. However, keep in mind that several of the aliens are at war with each other, and you must travel into their territories and talk to their leaders. You'll need to convince each alien leader to send a representative from their race with you to be a part of the Interstellar Union. Diplomacy will be a part of the visual novel game, but there will be a number of situations that involve starship combat and personal combat, depending on your choices in the game. Peace is rarely won without some conflict, but battle will only be a part of the game. Most of the time, you will need to be managing the relationships of your alien crew members. Each new legate (representative) that joins your crew will throw a different dynamic into the mix. Keep in mind that your choices will affect the way each of your crew feels about you, which can have an endgame effect!

Why “Star Legation?”

Some have asked me this question, and I know “legation” is not a common or well-known word. I chose it for several reasons, one of course being that I needed a unique name for the game. The other reason I chose legation is that it perfectly describes the purpose of the group of characters journeying across the stars. If you haven't already looked it up, a legation is defined like this:

1. The act of sending a legate
2. A diplomatic mission in a foreign country
   -The diplomatic minister and staff of such a mission.

As you can read in the “Story” section of the page, this all takes place during a difficult time when the different alien races are discovering each other. Two of the races—the Reln and Humans—agree that an Interstellar Union (ISU) must be formed to facilitate peace and trade among all the races. The Reln and Humans both select one person to represent them in a legation. That legation must journey across the universe into alien territory and extend the invitation to the other races, collecting a representative from each before returning to form the ISU.

www.StarLegation.com

Visual Novel Title Announcement!

I know I've been talking about a “scifi visual novel based on Solar Echoes” for months, and have even referred to it a few times as “SEVN” (Solar Echoes Visual Novel.) I've had the final title ready for a long time, but I needed to secure a domain and get a webpage built, and to do that, I needed enough artwork from my artists to put something good together. Well, the webpage is finally done! I'd like to thank the artists who have been hard at work and are still producing more content for the game. These include character artist John Fell, background artist Alexis Rill, CG artist Aeghite, and starship/spacescape artist Lee Madison. I'd also like to thank Julia Baldini for her assistance with the webpage process—she helped me out of a few frustrating dilemmas I had when building the webpage using Word Press. I've finally finished the site, so I'm ready to reveal the name of the game...

The Solar Echoes Visual Novel is called The Star Legation! Visit the new site at

www.StarLegation.com

Vorpal Board only 8 days left!

I wanted to mention that Vorpal Board has only 8 days left on Kickstarter, and is only a little more than halfway to its goal. If you've never used Kickstarter to fund something, it works like this: you pledge a certain amount of money for whatever rewards are being offered, and Kickstarter takes your credit card number. However, they don't charge your card unless the campaign reaches its goal by the final date. May 26 is the final date for Vorpal Board, and they really could use your help getting to their goal.

I'm mentioning all this because whenever I've been at conventions selling Solar Echoes, the most common response I get is that people can't physically get together with their friends to play tabletop games anymore—people live too far away, nobody wants to deal with traffic, it's hard to coordinate all this, etc. Vorpal Board solves that, because gaming from your home is far easier for everyone. The experience of playing a boardgame or RPG using the #VorpalBoard system is almost as authentic as sitting in the same room, the only difference being that one person has the boardgame and Vorpal Board system, while everyone else joins in through the app (for free!) The owner of the system only pays $5/month to use the app. Everyone joining the game plays for free. Please consider supporting Vorpal Board. I'm not getting anything out of mentioning this—I have nothing invested in the system, but I have put in my pledge on Kickstarter. I just really believe in this product and it's something I've wanted for a long time. I have friends I want to game with that live in other parts of the country (and a few international friends, too), so Vorpal Board is the perfect solution. I really hope this system gets the necessary funding to hit the market!

Remember, there are only 8 days left!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vorpalboard/vorpal-board?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=vorpal%20board

Vorpal Board Battle Report (part 5)

Today I'm wrapping up the battle report from last Saturday's Solar Echoes demo on Vorpal Board.

At the end of the warehouse skirmish, 2 of the 3 thugs were defeated but the gang leader escaped in a skimcar. The gun running Reln, Mikan, was cowering in an office he'd locked himself into, so, after healing up, Andrea's Reln began to try to talk him down. She made solid progress using her Persuasion skill, choosing a careful diplomatic approach to raise Mikan's posture. She also used her Fast Talker talent, giving her the bonus she needed to counter the Reln's natural Influence ability. At one point, Mike's Omul made a Resourcefulness check and came up with a good idea, but when he voiced this in front of Mikan, he had to make a Persuasion check. As good as the idea was, it didn't survive the Omul's low Influence ability, so the check failed. In the end, though, Andrea's Reln was able to finally convince Mikan to surrender information to them, and their mission ended with a partial success. Partial, because the gang leader had escaped with a car loaded up with the illegal weapons!

Overall, I think the game went really well, and I was impressed with how James handled GMing, especially considering it was his first time! Though everything started a bit slow as the players acclimated to the game system, they all got the hang of it and it started to flow as they became immersed in the scenario. One thing that new players of Solar Echoes don't usually notice at first is how crucial it is to work as a team, and though these new players did that well in most circumstances, they didn't help each other out with injuries, which really dropped the effectiveness of the team for a while. Despite this, however, both players were able to use their characters in different ways throughout the game, and at the end, I think they all had fun. Here are their comments when James asked his players what they thought of the game at the end:

2:47:10 https://youtu.be/0RrqtXQLq-0?t=10064

Vorpal Board Battle Report (part 4)

It was great seeing the players really engage with the Solar Echoes game. They quickly became involved in the action as the unfamiliar rules of Solar Echoes and the interface of Vorpal Board melted away to a focus on game events. As the game progressed Saturday night, the team debated about how best to enter the warehouse. Mike decided that his Omul would climb to the roof and enter the air ventilation system, while Andrea prepared her Reln to enter through the side door. The Omul moved into position above one of the air vents and saw a gang of thugs gathered around a table full of high-powered assualt rifles. When Andrea's Reln tried to sneak into the building, however, she failed her stealth check and the Reln gun dealer—the mission target for capture—pointed and exclaimed that they had an opportunity to test the guns for target practice. Mike's Omul then threw a tear gas grenade down among the group as Andrea's Reln ran for cover behind a nearby crate. She shot at the thugs from cover, and though most missed her as they returned fire, one of them was able to hit her with his rifle, immediately putting her in critical condition. The thugs spread out across the warehouse to various points of cover, and Mike's Omul dropped down near one of them to attack with his katana. Find out the conclusion to the mission tomorrow! 

Support VorpalBoard on Kickstarter! 

Vorpal Board Battle Report (part 3)

One of the things I really liked about watching a Vorpal Board session was seeing how the original pieces of the game were used. Solar Echoes has a very tactile sense to it, because players are actively moving their pieces around the map strategically. The Vorpal Board system displayed the physical map and miniatures with stills from a smartphone camera that were refreshed every 5 seconds, so nothing was missed at all. Remote players could watch this and use their cursors to point out where they wanted their miniature to move. The GM (and the Vorpal Board host that managed the physical map and miniatures) would then move the miniatures accordingly. I really like this aspect of the system, because it's just like sitting around a table playing a board game or RPG. There are no fancy computer graphics or effects involved that distract you or make you feel like you're playing a video game rendition of your favorite board game. And the whole system leaves everything up to your own imagination, just like the experience of playing a tabletop game. I already made my pledge to the Vorpal Board Kickstarter, and I really hope they meet your goal, but they really need your help, with less than 2 weeks to go. If the Vorpal Board system sounds like something you'd enjoy, please consider supporting their Kickstarter, here:

Vorpa Board Kickstarter 

Vorpal Board Battle Report (part 2)

It was cool seeing the dice displayed on screen with Vorpal Board. The Solar Echoes dice-rolling system is easy to understand, but difficult to program, so the ease of Vorpal Board allowed players to simply choose the type and number of dice they were rolling and do the calculations themselves.

To continue from yesterday, once Mike's Omul character detected the robot and identified it with his Robot ID talent, the team decided to circle around the other side to avoid it. However, when they were about midway there, the robot patrolled around the corner, coming straight at them! (28:45) It gave them a warning to leave, aiming its stun gun, so Andrea moved her Reln back to the safety of their vehicle while Mike decided to pull out an EMP grenade. The robot noticed the weapon, and retracted its stun gun, replacing it with a sub-machine gun! (39:00) It's a dangerous move to pull out a weapon in front of a security robot, but our Omul hero handled the situation well, making sure he could sidestep behind a wall after throwing his EMP grenade. Thankfully, he was fast enough to avoid the barrage of bullets, and the grenade exploded, doing double damage to the robot. But the robot was still up. Andrea decided to start the car and manuever it into a position where she could shine the high beams on the robot, and as a result, the robot suffered -1 to it's attack against her partner, Mike's Omul. Mike attacked with his Phoenix Pistol and shot the robot, but with the robot's armor, he only managed 2 points of damage. However, the robot was starting to spark and flame, so the team was encouraged that they had almost defeated the drone! Mike fired again with his pistol and hit, but it was Andrea's aimed shot from her rifle that brought the mechanized terror down. (1:06:10) Find out what happens tomorrow! (or watch the video) 

Vorpal Board Battle Report (part 1)

If you missed the Solar Echoes demo game last Saturday night at 9pm, you can watch it at youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RrqtXQLq-0&feature=youtu.be

It was so cool seeing how the Vorpal Board online gaming system allowed them to use the actual game pieces, including the map, miniatures, and scanned phase cards! The system allowed for the two remote players, Andrea and Mike, to use their cursors to indicate where they wanted to move on the map, and James would update the positions of their miniatures.

It was also a lot of fun watching the Vorpal Board creator, James, GMing Solar Echoes for the first time for two players that had also never played it before (and one of them, Andrea, had never played an RPG, either!) James was well-prepared with the rules and understood how to keep the game moving, and though it took some time for the players to acclimate to the new system, they eventually started to get a good feel for it, especially once they entered the warehouse around 1:15:30 into the game. Prior to that, though, they managed to deal with an aggressive security robot that was patrolling the perimeter outside. When they first saw it in front of the warehouse, they were able to view it while remaining unseen using stealth. Mike used his Robot ID talent and recognized the model, realizing that it could move extremely fast with a sprint and that it had a weakness to light shining directly on its sensors. What will the team do with this information? Watch the video, or find out in tomorrow's battle analysis!

Vorpal Board Designer Interview (part 5)

Vorpal Board is streaming a Solar Echoes game this Saturday (5/11) at 9pm, EST! I hope to see you there at: https://www.twitch.tv/VorpalBoard

Q: I understand you have a Kickstarter campaign now. What does that involve?

A: The Kickstarter campaign began April 22nd and will run for 30 days. We are offering two main pledge levels. The first level is $75 plus shipping to get 1 year of hosting account access (planned at $5 per month post Kickstarter) and our smartphone mounting arm. The second level is $125 plus shipping to get 1 year of service, the mounting arm, and the card scanning box. We will also be offering a Kickstarter exclusive lifetime access option for an additional $100 for either tier. We are looking to raise $50,000 on Kickstarter which will allow us to purchase materials in a quantity that allows us to get started on production of the mounting arm and card scanning box.

EDIT: A new pledge tier of $39 includes the phone mounting arm and 3 months of hosting subscription.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vorpalboard/vorpal-board

Vorpal Board Designer Interview (part 4)

Vorpal Board is streaming a Solar Echoes game this Saturday (5/11) at 9pm, EST! I hope to see you there at: https://www.twitch.tv/VorpalBoard

Q: I'm very excited that you've chosen Solar Echoes as one of the games you'll feature in a streaming demonstration of Vorpal Board. How well does it play using Vorpal Board?

A: Solar Echoes plays very will on Vorpal Board. When running a Solar Echoes game, you only need to have the 3 cards per player and those can be pre-scanned. This means that players who wanted to use Vorpal Board to play Solar Echoes would only need a single smartphone. The method that we stream the tabletop (using high resolution photos instead of video) means that players can zoom in closely to see the miniatures and whatever scenery/terrain is being used by the host. The heart of the game is of course in the player interactions as well as the speed of play and our embedded video chat for all players means that interaction between the GM and players is seamless.

Vorpal Board Designer Interview (part 3)

Q: If I wanted to use Vorpal Board to play board games online with friends, what do I need? How much would my friends and I have to invest to use your system?

A: We generally think of users of the system as either hosts or guests. Hosts are the ones that will have the physical game present and the guests will join into the host’s game session. To get started, the host will need at least one smartphone to stream the tabletop, a mounting arm to mount the smartphone above the table, a browser capable device to show the virtual board and the video chat windows, and a hosting account on VorpalBoard.com. If the host is playing a game that will require them to scan cards secretly in real time during the game, they will need a card scanning box and a second smartphone to put in the box. Our Kickstarter pledge levels mirror these two usage levels. The first level is $75 plus shipping to get 1 year of hosting account access (planned at $5 per month post Kickstarter) and our smartphone mounting arm. The second level is $125 plus shipping to get 1 year of service, the mounting arm, and the card scanning box. We will also be offering a Kickstarter exclusive lifetime access option for an additional $100 for either tier. Guests will need to have a browser capable device to see the web application and will not be required to have an account and will be charged no fees to use the service.

 Support Vorpal Board on Kickstarter

Vorpal Board Designer Interview (part 2)

Q: Why did you design your own system instead of using some of the other online board gaming systems available, like Roll20.net? What advantages does Vorpal Board have over other systems?

A: I considered and tried Tabletop Simulator, Tabletopia and Roll20 and while they are good tools that work well, there were a couple of limitations based on how I wanted to use them. First, I generally was playing with 2+ people on one end (my wife and I). We didn’t want to both be tied to a computer and using virtual implementations of the game. Second, there were games we wanted to play that weren’t available on the available platforms or the version of the game on the platform was not optimal. And third, we found that playing purely digital, perfectly rendered implementations took away some of the magic of playing a board game. It started to feel like just playing a video game at the same time, which is not the experience that we were looking for.

Support the Vorpal Board Kickstarter

Vorpal Board Designer Interview (part 1)

This week I'll be sharing the interview I had with the creator of the online boardgame/RPG playing system, Vorpal Board, which allows you to play tabletop games online using the actual game pieces!

Q: What prompted you to design Vorpal Board? Tell me about what makes your system unique.

A: A number of years ago I moved from Wisconsin to New York and as a result I left behind a group that I played board games with. Around the same time, the board game scene really started getting going on Kickstarter and I was buying games that I wanted to play with my old gaming group. As a software engineer, I decided to see if I could put together a solution to the problem and I started kicking around some prototypes. Over the years, I got some rough versions up and running (at least enough for us to play through some sessions remotely). After talking with enough people that thought it was neat and wished they could do the same thing, I decided to bring on some additional help and make a run at building out into a full scale product. We took about a year of heavy software and product development to get to a usable beta and now we are bringing the product to Kickstarter in this form.

Kickstarter for Vorpal Board

Characters and Sprites (Part 5)

In addition to the character sprites designed by John Fell, I've also been working with my CG artist, Aeghite, on expressions for some of the alien leaders you will encounter on your journey in the visual novel. She has been able to effectively bring these new characters to life for the visual novel by adding in different layers to her art that I can combine for a range of emotions. I'm hoping that each of these characters will provide memorable encounters for players and will add nuance to a story I'm really excited to tell! I'll keep you posted as things continue coming together, and soon I'll be able to share more visuals from the game as my webpage nears completion.

Characters and Sprites (Part 4)

One important aspect of character sprite design is their expressions. It's counter-intuitive to see an expressionless character highlighted while the dialogue emphasizes an emotional situation. It's important to reflect and emphasize the words spoken in a visual novel, and though this can be achieved through voice-acting (an expensive endeavor possible only through a Kickstarter strench goal), it is most likely that I will need to rely on sprite expressions to convey emotive content. Artist John Fell has worked with me to create a range of possible expressions for each character, creating different layers that I can turn on and off to animate each character's facial reactions when speaking.

Characters and Sprites (Part 3)

Even though the characters in the visual novel are diplomats, that doesn't mean there won't be some potential combat situations. Characters just won't be as heavily armed or as prepared for conflict as Union Guard agents. In fact, the challenging experiences these diplomats might have on their journey lays the groundwork for the establishment of the Union Guard in the future. The protagonist in the story does have military background, however, so at the beginning of the game, you'll have a choice between which weapons he'll bring with him.